The seventies were without a doubt the year of Disneyland vacations as I think nearly every family member made the two hour Delta flight once or twice during the decade. James Dad got to visit Disneyland twice, both times with his Mom and sister Peg. The first time was at the Polynesian hotel and the second one was at the golf resort (even though no one golfed, it was a pretty decent hotel as were they all at Disneyworld).

This was the era of the E tickets which were used for the most popular rides at Disneyworld. The E ticket could get you into the haunted mansion or the pirates of the Caribbean, basically the best rides at Disneyland. The tickets came in a pack that you tore off and only a few were E tickets, others were various letters for various other rides.

I wish we had taken more pictures of our time here, but we were busy having a lot of fun. In addition to the rides, James dad enjoyed the shops on main street especially the two magic shops. Aunt Peg loved the “its a small world” ride, and Loretta enjoyed the floral decorations throughout the park. At twilight an electric parade on the lake would go by the hotels and entertain the guests. What more could you expect from the happiest place on earth.

According to our ancestry.com account (which is run by her second cousin James), Natalie Marie Dunberger was born in 1979, the daughter of Pat and Mark. She married William Arthur Kelly on November 5, 2000, in Clark, Nevada. They had three children during their marriage. She has one brother and one sister.

Natalie served in the military as well, her path was a little different because she went to the Marines (I think everyone else was army, guess thats why they call them “the few”). We are all very proud of Natalie and her service to this country, especially during a war.

Natalie was married while in the service but unfortunately her husband was killed in a traffic accident (non military related). This was a shock for everyone to attend a funeral for someone so young. Natalie currently is going to school part time while supporting her family as well.

Continue reading “Natalie Dunberger Born 1979” →

This Christmas was a little different because Kathy was going to sing in the Christmas Choir this year, so after everyone opened gifts and had a super Christmas dinner, there was a journey to hear Kathy and the choir singing at St Tim’s Church. The choir sounded great and everyone was proud to have a family member in the choir. Once the service was over the card games began, pinocle of course.

Aunt Terese showed up along with Sandy and Little Joe which added to the festivities. Criss and Danny were also there so it was a full house in Trenton this Christmas.

Gifts were plentiful as one might expect, without a doubt the toy phone Renee was using was one of the highlights of the day as she took plenty of incoming calls from various people.

Continue reading “Christmas 1978” →

Eight years after their trip to the Bahamas, Aunt Peg and Grandma (from James persepective) once again ventured out on a major trip, this time to Hawaii.

Now they stayed pretty busy with trips in these intervening years, including two trips to Disney World with James Dad in tow, but the Bahama trip and Hawaii trip were special as they were a mother daughter thing.

The photograph to the left was taken at Jack Cione’s lavish South Sea stage revue … with the music of Jack Demello … as part of the exciting Follies Polynesia, a unique show in Hawaii with beautiful girls, lavish costumes, and memorable music.

The photo was taken by Kahala Kai Photo Service.

Continue reading “Hawaii Trip 1978” →

When Charles Joseph Kleiber was born in 1960 in Detroit, Michigan, his father, Charles, was 43 and his mother, Loretta, was 40. He married Mary Elizabeth Landis on September 5, 2002, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. They have one child James Raymond Kleiber. He has two sisters, Christine Louise and Margaret Ann (aka Peg).

Chuck was in the service from 1980 until 1984 including one year overseas in Korea and TDY in Alaska and Japan. After the military he furthered his education and then in 1986 went to work for a NY based company and has been with them ever since. Currently the designer of this website and several others that you may run across on your internet adventures, perhaps his best contribution on the web was designing a field website for his company which won him an award from his company earlier in the nineties.

Continue reading “Chuck Kleiber Adulthood 1978” →

These are Jame’s great grandparents who unfortunately passed away long before he was born. We don’t have a lot of pictures of them so if anyone can help please send some pics this way.

I remember my family going to see a movie called “Dr Strangelove” and I was too young, so Grandpa had to take care of me for a few hours. We had a great time and he cooked me some popcorn which might not sound like much but this was before the microwave era. when I was about 8 I remember my bicycle getting stolen (from in front of St. Albert Church no less) and my Grandma Millie calling me and offering to buy me a new bike.

They were both great grandparents and I am sure they would have loved to have met james.

Continue reading “Tribute to Ben and Millie Kleiber 1894 – 1977” →

New Years was celebrated in Trenton this year and we wanted to wish everyone a great new year as the bicentennial year comes to an end.

During the summer of 1976 we had 3 tents in the backyard and it was very common for my friends to spend the night pretty much whenever they wanted to. We were 16 at the time and the girl next door had a bunch of girlfriends for us and a pool so all was right with the universe.

I remember watching the All Star game that year, Ron LeFlore from the Tigers led off the game with a single and the sounds of “Frampton Comes Alive” filled the summer air.

One day, one of my friends, Bob Welker, was working at the K of C in the kitchen and saw that the beer tap was left unprotected so he grabbed an empty plastic gallon milk jug and filled it up with beer. He then hid the gallon of beer until he got off, then put the gallon in his newspaper route bag and rode it over to the tents in the back yard.

We had no way of hiding an entire gallon of anything in the tents and the only thing big enough to cover it up was a matress we had in one of the tents so we slid the gallon of milk under the mattress and except for a small lump you could not really notice anything (A combination of a lumpy mattress and an unlevel back yard).

That evening was the night we watched the All Star game and I had a few friends over to watch it with. All of a sudden dad comes into the tent to see how we were doing. We told him fine and said we were having a good time watching the game and how cool it was of Ron Leflore to lead off with a single.

Just that moment he decided to sit down, since all the chairs were taken in the tent he sat on the mattress that was covering the beer. As we watched this in horror we saw little trickles of beer begin flowing out from under the mattress. These actually began to puddle and we were certain we were going to be busted. Finally after what seemed an eternity, dad got up and left the tent and we quickly cleaned up the mess we made as Bob Welker shed tears of anguish for his once glorious gallon of beer.

Needless to say we never had any more gallon jugs in the tent that year.

When Joseph Conrad Graf was born on November 30, 1924, in Natrona, Pennsylvania, his father, Joseph, was 37 and his mother, Rose, was 34. He married Teresa Eva Graf Pingitore in Wayne, New Jersey. They had three children during their marriage. He died on April 3, 1976, in Orange, Florida, at the age of 51, and was buried in Flat Rock, Michigan.

James dad has many fond memories of his Uncle Joe. He remembers Uncle Joe always helping with big and little projects at his home including setting up his basketball net on the garage, making a BB gun target, and fixing his train. Joe was very good with mechanical things and also very creative. Like his father, Joe would set up a Christmas display with a train and small homes. Joe liked camping and owned a camper which he put to good use every summer.

During the 70’s almost everyone in the family would vacation at Disney World and Joe took his family there in 1976 (Dad remembers taking care of Sandy’s guinea pig while they were away). Joe had a heart attack at Disney World and died shortly after. Ironically 25 years later his sister Loretta would also die while on vacation in Traverse City.

Continue reading “Remembering Joseph Graf 1924 – 1976” →

After graduating from St. Albert’s James’ Dad had fun with a tent in the back yard where his little friends from St. Albert’s could get together. Don’t worry, the bottles are actually empty.

The tent set the standard for the next few years as James’ Dad and his friends did much camping in tents including Hell Michigan and Leamington Canada.

The tent was purchased by James’ Grand Dad who spent time with James’ Dad in the tent listening to baseball games on the radio.